American Mechanized Technology doubles output with plant expansion
Two years after its start, American Mechanized Technology, LLC plans to double its CNC milling production capacity and move into an 82,000-square-foot facility with more than $500,000 of new milling, grinding and 3D printing equipment.
Chattanooga engineer David Crick, who has started eight businesses during his career, including AMT, will move production of his latest venture into a leased facility at 3115 Freeman St. early in October. The production facility is located about one and a half blocks north of the AMT corporate offices that will continue operations at the 2802 Belle Arbor Ave.
Roger Layne, vice president of sales, said the company has grown to 12 employees and is likely to add other workers with the enhanced production. The company performed customized milling and precision machine work to produce machine parts for a variety of industries.
Entergy delays nuclear shutdown
COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. - The planned closure of the Palisades nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan will be delayed by four years until spring of 2022, an energy company said Thursday.
The announcement from New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. came after the Michigan Public Service Commission said last week that Consumers Energy could opt out of buying power from the plant but couldn't recover all of the $172 million requested as part of the deal.
Entergy said Consumers Energy would have been able to recover $136.6 million through surcharges to electric customers.
The Palisades Power Plant employs about 600 workers and generates enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes.
Germans arrest executive in VW "dieselgate"
An investigation into Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal expanded significantly Thursday after German authorities arrested a former high-ranking executive of the carmaker, two people with knowledge of the arrest said.
The executive, identified by German news outlets as Wolfgang Hatz, is a former chief of engine development at Volkswagen. He worked closely with Matthias Müller, now the company's chief executive, when both were members of the management board of the carmaker's Porsche unit. Hatz was being held in Munich without bail.
Hatz, well known in automotive circles because of his previous role as chief of research and development at Porsche, is the second person to be arrested in Germany in connection with the Volkswagen case and the first German citizen. His prominence signals that the investigation - which has proceeded slowly since the wrongdoing came to light two years ago - may be entering a more intense phase.
Court considers dealership overtime
The Supreme Court is giving car dealerships a second chance to put the brakes on overtime pay for service advisers.
The court has agreed to take up - again - a case involving a California dealership that claims those advisers are similar to salesmen or mechanics, and therefore exempt from overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Last year, the Supreme Court told the appeals court to take another look - but this time, don't defer to a Labor Department rule that service advisers aren't exempt from overtime requirements. The lower court once again ruled that service advisers are eligible for overtime pay.
Now the Supreme Court will get a chance to review that ruling.